Evo51.JPGWithout Evelyn and Everett Ortner, there may very well have been no brownstone renaissance in Brooklyn (and, as one reader wrote to remind us, no Brownstoner.com!). Starting in the early 1960s, when they bought a brownstone on Berkeley Place (for $32,500!), the couple used a combination of charm and street smarts to preserve the architectural fabric of their neighborhood while building a strong activist community, among other things founding the Brownstone Revival Committee in 1968. Since then, they have served in leadership roles of Preservation Volunteers, the Victorian Society of America, D.C.-based Preservation Action, the Brooklyn Historical Society, BAM, the Brooklyn Museum and the Park Slope Civic Council. While Evelyn passed away in 2006, Everett, 89, continues to be deeply involved with Brooklyn preservation and community organizations. For a longer list of achievements, click here.


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  1. An excellent choice!

    I took a New School course, on NYC brownstones, with Everett Ortner in 1975, shortly after buying my house. It was his example that inspired me to work on publicizing my own neighborhood (PLG) which was one of the least-known Brooklyn brownstone neighborhoods.

    Evelyn Ortner sat in on that course and didn’t reveal that she was Everett’s wife until the last class. IIRC she also took that opportunity to announce that she was one of a group of people about to open a new upscale restaurant named Camperdown Elm on Union Street in Park Slope. Before that choices hah, more or less, been limited to a few bars, Purity (in it’s original location) and the expensive, but very tired, Michele’s on Flatbush near GAP.

    Oh, BTW, Everette coined the name “Brownstoner” for the Brownstone revival Committee’s newsletter

  2. Along with the Ortner’s, there were people like Clem Labine, the founder of Old House Journal Magazine. Way back in the 70’s, when he and his friends were renovating their Park Slope brownstones, he found that many of the materials and methods of construction had been lost to the modern renovationists. His magazine started as a 3 hole, loose leaf newsletter with tips on brownstone home buying, historic reno tips, and sourcing for products for Victorian homes.

    Fast forward to today, the magazine has left Brooklyn (I remember their headquarters in a storefront on 7th Ave) and is now a fat, glossy quarterly font of information for old house lovers all over the country. Unfortunately, they’ve left brownstones behind, but they are still worthy of mention.

    The brownstone revival coincided with a countrywide old house revival. For us preservationists and old house restorers, this has resulted in literally thousands of companies catering to us, mostly new companies, as well as the growth and resurgence of old companies that may have otherwise died out. That means that we don’t have to search too hard to find sources for flooring, lighting, tile, bathtubs,wallpaper and paint, shower fixtures, and decorative objects for our period homes. We can also find replacement parts or reproductions for countless other details from roofing supplies to heating ducts to a small washer for an 1890’s faucet.

    The brownstone revival has indirectly led to thousands of jobs, and no end to creative outlets for talented entrepeneurs and eager customers. The Ortners, Clem Labine, and his staffers, and everyone who kept companies like AAAbington (tin ceiling tile, on Coney Island Ave) alive and growing, deserve our thanks and praise. There is beauty and value in the new, but the preservation of the craftsmanship and materials of the past is to me, a holy calling.

    Here’s to the historic restorers and renovators who insisted on quality, and historic integrity, who have helped preserve the beautiful details, inside and out, of our fabulous historic homes, wherever they may be.

  3. Evelyn Ortner is truly missed – one of the nicest people I have ever met. She moved effortlessly among seemingly irreconcilable segments of Brooklyn – serving simultaneously, I believe, alongside Bruce Ratner on the BAM board and on the advisory board for DDDB. She kept the bigger picture in mind: we are all trying, in our own ways, to make Brooklyn a better place to live.

    Kudos, Brownstoner – a good cap to a great list.